BASF has planted more than 200,000 seedlings, including poplar, Russian olive and native berry bushes. By 1982, 30 percent of the beds were covered with vegetation; today approximately 80 percent of the island is covered with vegetation.

So it's a reversal.

A place where vegetation is expanding rather than declining.

BASF has a partnership with the local school district to educate kids on the island. They come and learn about changing ecosystems and natural restoration.

Don Fay, a science consultant for the Greater Essex County District School Board, says the kids experience a new dimension of learning when they visit Fighting Island:

"Because now they are seeing that they can solve problems - that nothing is hopeless - that their applied knowledge can actually yield true benefits that they can see year after year when they come back to the island."

Here's the video about the partnership:

In 2009, a BASF representative said this about the island in the Windsor Star:

The island fits in with Congressman Dingell's effort to restore habitat in the Detroit River. While it's not a part of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, it sits right next to it. If we're able to use the "Earth Engine" 20 years from now, perhaps we'll see even more green in this part of the Detroit River.